<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16890" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 bgColor=#ffffff leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"> </DIV><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV>During the 1976 presidential campaign, Gerald Ford was at Old Faithful to give a nationally televised speech. Yes, talk about changes in attitudes, changes in security. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Ford's speech was advertised well in advance. Bleachers were built for the crowd, as was a platform and podium for the president. All the news media was there (which I guess in 1976 means NBC, CBS, ABC and maybe nothing else) with their big vans and antennas. Sure there was security -- it included such things as National Capitol Police on horseback, ranger-naturalists (me!) handing out program brochures (yes, the presidential program, not the NPS program). Somebody was talking about a helicopter moving up and down every time Old Faithful had preplay. Well, I was one of those uniformed sorts and I don't recall that. I do recall Ford timing his speech along with coaching so that when the thing finally erupted (only a minute or two "late"), the speech got to [paraphrase] "great wonders such as this."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Hundreds if not thousands of people. No real access restrictions that I recall, certainly people all over the place. Yes, there were "observers" atop the Inn and such, but...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Well, I guess I'm getting old. I feel the restrictions that resulted from Obama's visit were ridiculous. I sure am glad I wasn't part of a family on my once-in-a-lifetime visit, one day in paradise. Closing a place such as Old Faithful on a free-entry weekend was absolutely stupid.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>And if Obama hears that -- good.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Scott Bryan</DIV></FONT> <DIV class=aol_ad_footer id=b8f7e386bfdc7b9f9f435293459519f1><BR><FONT style="FONT: 10pt arial,san-serif; COLOR: black"></FONT></DIV> <P> <P>****************************</P> <P>Sad to say, the times have changed for the worse, and not necessarily because the president wants it that way. There have been a lot more threats against Obama than against past presidents; he can't really go out without that kind of security like he did when he was a senator. </P> <P>Laurie Brown, Dark Phoenix<BR><A href="mailto:lauriebr@netw.com">lauriebr@netw.com</A><BR><A href="http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/103910/laurie_brown.html">http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/103910/laurie_brown.html</A></P></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>